The One BIG Lesson I Learned About Building a Successful Online Business After 7 Years PLUS Online!

by with 22 Comments Running A Business

Do you love football, (soccer if you prefer that)?

You do, right? So do I!

Now, one thing I’ve noticed whenever any team is playing is how nearly everyone who is watching the game is an ‘expert’. One common thing you’ll notice with these people, whether they are watching the game in the stadium or at home via their television sets, is the ‘expert’ tips and ‘technical’ advise they ditch out.

Whenever a player make a wrong move on the field of play resulting in some missed chances, these ‘unofficial coaches’ would say all sort of unprintable words. Most times they dish out instructions of what players should or should not do.

In fact, the way most of these self assumed experts carry themselves while watching the players struggling to make good their act, you’d think they will perform wonders if they are given the opportunity to be in the field of play. But give it a try and you would only regret the result!

Succeeding online and playing football

Now, I know you’d be wondering what has the Web Income Journal has to do with football game. No, my concern here is not about playing football but about the attitude of many who want to make money online.

You see, the fact is when you are on the outside you could easily fall for the notion that building a successful online business is an easy thing. This is why many of us were pulled in by the smooth talk of online marketers who presented making money online as something you can achieve simply by putting up a website or blog.

But all that was only a DREAM!

I’m being honestly frank here!

If you have been online long enough then you would agree that internet marketing is not about working in your pajamas, even when you could choose to do so. It’s also not about loafing it out at the beach with your lap while the money roll in!

One thing you must understand is that those figures that’s being flashed at you in those sales letters are results of long and tedious days and nights of toil and sweat. Sometimes, even years.

So, if you desire success online you should be ready to put the investment of time and effort.  Never think success online come simply by sheer luck. You don’t just casually ease into earning millions on the net.

As I mentioned a few days ago, the Web Income Journal blog, as it’s today, will be 7years in a few days time. In this post I want to share with you the essential ingredient I’ve found to be a must-have if you want to build a successful online business.

Online Business Success

I must say that of all that’s required to make a success of your online dream, this top the list…

Alright, let’s get it on…

The Essential Ingredient for a Successful Online Business

Have a Right and Healthy Mindset

As I’ve mentioned earlier, many of us started online with a wrong mindset. We had some funny ideas about making money online. But I can tell you today that was really FAULTY foundation. I’m only here today because I jettisoned that mindset after I realized the problem with it. And, I’m grateful I did else I would have packed up my acts a long time ago!

One thing I can say is that over the years there are many bloggers that have interacted with this blog at one time or the other. Over time I have discovered that many of these blogs have dropped out of the blogosphere. Many of these blogs had an “appearance of success” when they were up. But as you’ll agree with me, you don’t ditch a winning team, or do you?

I dare say that of the many that are dropping out of sight, most got it wrong somewhere. And, in most cases a wrong mindset is the culprit!

Now I must say I may not have the qualifications to make such a grave statement but after about 7+ years of being online, a period within which I have tried my hands in different online business models – niche sites, affiliate marketing, bum marketing, article marketing, blogging and even Kindle self-publishing, I think I can read the handwriting on the wall whenever I see one!

So my intention in this post is not to sound pompous but to help you see the truth so that you can achieve your dreams online. If you truly want to escape being one of the dotcom failures, work on your mindset. Period!

Online success strategy

Wondering what really is the right and healthy mindset for succeeding online?

To help you understand this let’s look at it in the areas of what it IS and what it is NOT.

What it IS:

1.  A right and healthy mindset IS the willingness to work as hard and as long as is necessary to achieve the goals that YOU have set.

2.  A right and healthy mindset IS the willingness to take the time to make a good, solid business plan that is based upon sound business principles.

And what it is NOT:

1.  A right and healthy mindset is NOT the belief that success will be easy, quick or painless.

2.  A right and healthy mindset is NOT just jumping in feet first and hoping for the best. The best that can happen under those circumstances is that you’d get out with nothing more than two cents to your name.

From the above you’d understand that those who believe that they can build a successful internet based business without putting in the required time or effort are simply doomed to failure from the very start.

I’m sure you don’t want to set up your online business to self-destruct!

Again from what is presented as the right and healthy mindset, you will notice that there’s the need for setting goals and making a business plan based on sound business principles. This is because building a business online is pretty much the same as building a business off-line, with a little difference in approach. It is important therefore that if you lack any knowledge in the area of your business focus, never hesitate to get it whatever the cost.

Of course, a right and healthy mind set may not automatically guarantee success online but note this very carefully, a wrong and unhealthy or unrealistic mindset will most assuredly, as the day follows the night, guarantee failure! So get the right mindset because this the first cornerstone that must be laid if a successful online business is to be built.

I’ll love to hear your thoughts on this. Share with us in your comments below.

[NOTE: This post was actually done a few years ago but then it’s still ‘fresh’ and to the point for a 7 year anniversary post. And so, I simply ‘brushed’ it up a little. Do enjoy!]

A Simple Guide to Help You Make Money from Your Website

by with No Comment Uncategorized

It’s the modern dream, isn’t it? Work from home while your website pulls in the money. It’s simply the simple perfect way to get an additional income!

Recent statistics points to the fact that having a website could be the key to your financial future. There are presently hundreds of self-made millionaires who have been catapulted to fortune by their websites.

Now, if you are thinking that it is something way out of your reach then you must understand that it’s not as tricky as you think. However, there is one big disclaimer. It involved a lot of hard work. Making money from your website is not a get-rich-quick scheme! It’s a business, and it ought to be treated as such.

In this post I want to show you some of the basics behind making money online. Please note that what I will be dealing with here are the fundamentals. If you’re looking for the secrets to a truly lucrative website, you’ll have to dig deeper. You will learn how to start making money with this information, but if you want the millionaire’s fortune, you need to be creative.

Of course, when I say creative, I’m not expecting that you embark on some out of the world project. All you need is something thinking outside the box. You can do something that has never been done before but ensure it something that will proffer a solution that people are ready to exchange their money for.

But for a start follow the advice here and you will soon see every other thing fall in place. So, let’s dive in.

Make money with your website

1. Start With A Professional Website

It’s possible to monetize any basic website. But, we’re looking to the future here. You need a website built for the sole purpose of boosting profits. That means consulting the experts and commissioning a bespoke website. Customers, advertisers, affiliates (everyone we’re going to talk about here) trust a professional design. Web design expert, Oliver Wood, told us that it’s easy to spot a template website, and people tend to trust them less. Get a real, professional design, and set yourself ahead of the rest.

2. Advertising

Advertising is the first option when it comes to making money online. Now, let us say one thing before we continue. Advertising will not make you rich on the internet. Ad payouts are relatively low until you’ve got a BIG audience. By which time, there are more clever methods of monetizing. However, advertising is a great start, and it’s a vital part of your income stream. Start by signing up to Google AdSense. They’ll begin sending adverts to your site, and you’ll get paid every time someone clicks on one.

3. Affiliate Income And Sponsored Posts

For a while, online advertising was incredibly lucrative. But, as demand increased, money decreased. So, website owners looked for new ideas. Affiliate sales quickly became the internet’s hot-topic. Essentially, you’ll include links in your content to third-party sellers. If your referral generates a sale, you get a commission. Simple in design, and lucrative when done correctly. Other ideas include sponsored posts. This means you’ll collaborate with a brand to create content with their name on it. It’s a less intrusive form of advertising.

4. Products And Consulting

The most lucrative way to monetize your website is through products or consulting. Use your web presence and community to sell something. That’s how you make serious money online. Sell your own products, or contact third-party wholesalers. If a product isn’t appropriate, sell your skills as a consultant.

Conclusion

Using a website to make money online is not really a complicated thing. With the basic understanding of what it entails and you taking action on what your knowledge you will soon see the money trickle in. and of course, with time you can always build on that foundation. I hope therefore that this post has given you a few ideas to get started. It’s now your turn. Get creative, and find clever ways to monetize your site.

How Autoresponders Can Literally Make Your Life Better as An Online Entrepreneur!

by with One Comment Entrepreneurship

Ever wondered how some “guru” online marketers can boast of making money online even when they are sleeping?

How about those who claim their online businesses are always sucking in money like vacuum cleaners while they are traveling the world, lazing around with their sweethearts?

I’m sure that claims like these may have, at times, come to you as incredible and spurious, right?

But then it means you are yet to discover the power of autoresponders in marketing online.

To every online entrepreneur, the autoresponder is actually the most valuable tool. I personally don’t know how the online business person would have been able to cope with running a business online if there were no autoresponders.

There is so much that autoresponders can do for you as a web entrepreneur. In this post therefore, I want to briefly talk about this very useful tool. I hope you pick one or two things to help you with your online business.

Autoresponders and Online Marketing

Autoresponders And Your Online Business

There is no doubt that one of the most useful tools that every online business entrepreneur must consider is the autoresponder. If you truly desire to have a slice of the internet cake then getting a functional autoresponder is a must. Used the right way they can help you put your business on autopilot enabling you to spend more time doing other things like generating traffic to your websites, networking and even creating more businesses.

Many people correctly refer to it as the 24/7 salesman/secretary. This is because once set up the autoresponder is ready to work round the clock without any problems. Like the automated secretary they are, the autoresponder will readily respond to email inquiries without any delay. It will, also without fail, followup any prospect once the contact details are in the database.

Without Autoresponders Marketing Online Is A Pain In The Neck

Many online entrepreneurs have not realized that trying to build a successful online business can be a little tricky without an autoresponder. Their ability for automatic email response is something that every online marketer will cherish any day.

This is specially so because online, people want instant gratification. They expect responses their inquiries without any delay. And so, automating a majority of your business tasks with autoresponders can help you gain not only respect from your customers’ and prospects but also their business!

One of the good features of autoresponders is the ability to configure your messages to your specifications. You can send personalized messages thereby creating the impression that your email was specifically made for your clients. This is of great help since it definitely increases your email conversion rates. Besides, once you have set up your autoresponders you will be able to followup your prospects, presenting your offers to them until they are ready to buy!

Business Marketing Using Autoresponders

How autoresponders help online entrepreneursOne of the smart ways of using autoresponders to market your business online is by creating free courses, articles, reports, information regarding your products and services, price lists, welcome and thank you letters, advertising rates etc. and preseting this information in your autoresponder.

Once set up you can then direct potential buyers or current customers to get more info by sending a message to your autoresponder address. When they do, the information they are seeking will automatically be delivered to them. The autoresponder will also notify you each and every time someone has requested your information. This will help you know when you have potential customers.

By simply doing this you’d be marketing your business hands-free!

There will be no need for you to spend countless hours answering emails. You will have more time to do other things that will help move your business forward.

A Few Tips On Using Autoresponders For Your Business

Here are some tips that will help you maximize the potential of your autoresponder.

  1. Choose Wisely

Your choice of autoresponder for your online business matters. For one, I’ll say never choose based only the price only. This is because the cheapest price might not really be great after all!

Again, never settle for free autoresponders. If you’re running a business then it’s wise that you put in some investment, because that is what an autoresponder is to your business. Free autoresponders might bring more pain later on when you want to move to a paid one.

I personally recommend GetResponse.com because of the proven service and the features. Even if you’re just getting started, you’ll find the platform easy to work with.

You can get a FREE 30 day trial option here.

2.Load Up a Reasonable Number of Messages

Depending on what type of information you want your autoresponder to deliver to your prospects, setting it up to run for a long time (say for a whole year) is the idea thing. If you load up, say 52 messages, you’ll have something to send for each week of the year.

Of course, you may have trouble loading up this many messages or articles at once but there are places online where you can get your material for free. However, if you simply don’t have the time or content, you can always start with a few messages then go back and add more later.

3.Always Include Your Email Signature In The Autoresponder Messages

Once you have your autoresponder preloaded with messages or the required articles, it is important that you set up your signature. Your signature will be displayed at the bottom of every message the autoresponder sends out. This could be your name and link to your business website. You can also add a short description of your business as well, which will let clients or interested customers know a bit about your business. Your name and link to your business website will go a long way, letting your customers know that you are professional.

4. Every Messages Should Relate To Your Business

Never make the mistake of just stuffing things up because you want to load up a year’s content. This way, when you send out emails or messages, you’ll be sending out material that relates to your business or products. if your content is different from what your prospects are looking you run the risk of many of them unsubscribing from your list.

5. Update Your Autoresponder Messages As The Need Arises

From time to time as you get new products or information to send to your clients, you can update your log. When running a business, it’s very important that you keep your customers up to date. This way, your customers will know that you have new products available and ready for purchase. If you have a good relationship with them, they will be anticipating your new offers.

Final Thoughts: If you run a business via the Internet, an autoresponder is definite to make your life a whole lot easier. You can build a flourishing online business working only with an autoresponder and no website. But if you attempt to market with a website and no autoresponder you will run into problems. An autoresponder will allow you build a subscribers’ list – your most valuable business asset! The truth is, once you’ve tried using an autoresponder, you’ll never imagine your business without it.

How to Turn the Global Economic Crunch Into an Opportunity to Make Money Online!

by with 17 Comments Entrepreneurship

With the global economic crunch it does appears that it could really be a time to make money online with much ease. I discovered a simple idea on how to do this just this past weekend.  I had the opportunity of taking part in a Workshop for practicing and intending entrepreneurs. And during this workshop I recieved an inspiration I believe will greatly enhance my online business.

Today I want to share with you an idea I got from that meeting. This idea simply dropped into my mind when one of the speakers made a statement which I believe can be an income generator in this times of global economic woes.

You know many people today are taken up with the downturn of the economy and to them nothing is really working. In fact, many online entrepreneurs have doubts about making money online right now because of the suffering economy. The only things that are very evident to them are the political and economic troubles reverberating around the world.

start up loans are considered as risky by banks

Confronted on all sides by this situation many are of the view that a time such as this is really not the time to make money online. They believe that not many people are spending as much online since the economy is suffering. Even those who believe that the economy is already getting back on its feet have doubts since, to them, we are still in recovery and no one really know what to expect in the near future. With this mindset there is actually a prevailing state of disbelief about making money online in these times of economic crunch.

But do you know that this is really the time to position yourself for a greater reward as a web entrepreneur? You don’t believe, do you?

Ok, stay with me and let me share with you this inspiring idea. I ask that you read it carefully. Actually it’s an idea that dropped on mind as I listened to one of the resource persons making his presentation. As soon as the words came out of his mouth, the light bulbs in my head came on with greater brightness that made me go wow!

So what was it that this man said that turned my entrepreneurial senses on full throttle? It’s this statement…

Focus On The Trend-lines Not The Headlines!

Recommended: How to Turn Your Skills & Knowledge A Flourishing Online Business

Please read it very carefully until it really sink in!

Did that make any sense to you?

No?

Alright, let’s dive in a little deeper!

Maybe you’re like me; or maybe not. But there is one thing I do all the time and that is making sure I’m always up to date about what is happening around the world today.

Now, if you do that also or maybe you do it occasionally, when you read those screaming headlines on what is happening around the world, what is it that crosses your mind? How about when you watch the news on your favorite TV station? Is it any different? I doubt!

Every paper you flip or whatever station you tune to, it’s all the same. It doesn’t matter where the news is coming from.  From Africa to the Americas, from Europe to Asia or from Australia to the Antarctic, the situation is the same. The suffering economy is telling on every one. Not even once-quiet and peaceful societies are spared, any more!  The slightest provocation is enough for the bitter spleen of the masses to be unleashed on the political class.

Now, think about this for a moment. How do you respond to these headlines? Probably, your response is not different from the majority of the people – pointing fingers at the politicians and calling for yet another social upheaval as we have seen lately in the middle east.

But do you know as an online entrepreneur this is actually a time you should seize with both hands to make some extra money online? Don’t believe me? Just think about the number of people losing their jobs and assets. Don’t you think most of these people who are getting laid off are going to come online looking for another source of income?  Now, don’t you think all these are desperate situations that is calling for a desperate solution amongst these people?

Are you getting it?

If you’re still in any way not sure of what I’m driving at, let me point out to you that every savvy online marketer knows that finding desperate buyers and giving them a solution for their desperate situation is actually the secret to making it big online. May be you have heard about Desperate Buyers Only by Alexis Dawes. If you’ve not read it I advise that you take a look at it right now. Over the years Desperate Buyers Only has helped content publishers and info product marketers uncover how to really write and market info products so that people with problems will buy.  Click here to know more about Desperate Buyers Only.

Now can you see why my brain lit up when this particular speaker said, focus on the trendlines and not the headlines? I realized it’s about looking deeper than the headlines. While the headlines scream at you with all the problems in the economy, you should really look deeper to see how you can profit no matter what is going on!

The headlines will only make you go crazy but the trendlines will fire you up and your creative juices will find better expression!

Now, let me caution here that this is not about scamming or selling people false dreams.  It’s about providing what will help those who are desperate about keeping a roof over their heads and those who are desperate about putting food on their tables. As a web entrepreneur who knows what it takes to make money online you truly have some advantage over some of these people but you may not know it. Your years of experience online are truly an asset that you can bank on. You could put together your own experience about making money online and then sell it as an information product.

Oh did you say there is so much of that already there? Of course, that is the truth but if you think there will never be any information product on making money online again because the market is saturated then you are making a big mistake. Go learn from the internet marketers!

By the way you don’t have to create a product only in the niche of making money online. It could be an information product on how those losing their assets can stop the loss. It is actually a win win situation.  And that really is what information products are all about. So whether you want to focus on those who will be coming online to make some extra income or you want to focus on any of the myriad problems facing the human race today, you could really profit with the ailing economy.  Indeed, it is actually a time to take advantage of the suffering economy!

2 Simple Steps for Profiting With the Suffering Economy

Business Startup Finance Made Easy!

I’m sure at this point you agree with me that as a web entrepreneur you can really apply this statement to your online business, right? So, if you’re on this same plane with me then let me offer you a simple and quick outline on what you should do.

1. Carry Out Your Research

The first thing you should really do is to re-focus your attention as you listen to or watch the news. Instead of just taking in what the news houses are throwing at you (that of course is how they make their own money!) direct your entrepreneurial antennae to probe deeply on what the news is really about. Ask yourself how you can make some money with this and then go online to research the topic. I tell you if you begin to do this you will soon begin to uncover some very profitable niches you’ve never thought about. Like I said earlier, if you have a system in place that is helping you make money online, you’re truly ahead of the pack! Utilize your knowledge to fatten your bank account!

2. Get Your Product into the Market

It doesn’t matter whether you’re going to sell an affiliate product or your own product, if you’re going to make money online taking advantage of the suffering economy you simply need to know how to market those products to your prospects. Making money online is about selling. You need to know both the science and art of marketing online. This is what the savvy internet marketers know so much. If possible study how they are doing it.  Go invest in marketing resources that will equip you to make money selling products on the net. One thing you must be sure of is that you may have the right information and even package it so well, but if you don’t know how to market it online your bank account will simply groan because of its emptiness! Marketing and selling online is both a science an art, I think that is worth repeating! You can know one but without the knowledge of the other you will remain in the same place.

I recommend that you put these two tips to good use right now and you’ll be able to take advantage of the trendlines and make money with the ailing economy. You’ll not only see much more opportunities in the suffering economy but you’d become more adept at profiting with them. And just as the Holy Scripture said, when others are saying there is a casting down you’d be saying there is a lifting up!  Because my desire for you in this economy is that you’ll be lifted up I passionately ask you to go invest in this knowledge right now!

Can You Really Make Money With These Blogs?

by with 27 Comments Uncategorized

Making money with blogs is definitely something that many of us have found to be an easy but NOT a quick way of making money online. With a blog you can quickly set up your shop online and make some cool money doing what you love. However, there are challenges involved. 

But whoever said making money is a stroll in the park!

Despite these challenges however, the growth of blogs is astronomical. There are indications that the number of blog pages on the internet are more than the number of people on the face of the earth! But not minding this, more and more blogs are being started every day. 

But can most of these ones really be classed as blogs? Do most of what we have out there right now make money for their owners?

Is This Being Penny Wise but Pounds Foolish?

Now, I’m writing this post because recently I’ve visited a few “blogs” which has led me to the conclusion that many so-called bloggers are simply wasting their precious time online. 

Possibly these ones do not know the value of time or they simply do not value their time!

When I re-introduced the top commentators reward early this year, knowing what we went through when we ran the contest last year, I decided on moderating every single comment. But I later reversed this. Now the system is set to automatically approve any comment by a commenter who already have an approved comment. But unfortunately for those who still want to abuse our reward package I still hold the aces because I can delete it at any time.

Often than not, because I reply to any comment (I love reading and replying every comment) I usually visit the website or blog of the commenter. This gives me the idea of the type of person the commenter is and also to reciprocate the good gesture of visiting and posting a comment here.

Now, in the past few days while checking out  a few of the links in the comments, I’ve come across some funny “blogs.” In fact, I’ve been asking myself, do these people know what they are doing? And as one who is interested in making money with my efforts on the internet, I’ve been questioning if these types of blogs can really make money for their owners.

You may be wondering really is the essence of this post. Not to worry I want to show you a screen shot I took a few hours ago. I do hope you will be able to read a few of the words on it. 

The above is a page on the blog with a comment held for my moderation and approval. I got suspicious when I discovered that the name  was not having the name of the commenter but the title of my previous post: I’m not begging but I’m SCREAMING FOR YOUR HELP! Clicking on the link to visit the site, I was presented with a blog page aparently created with some auto-blogging software. The blog post which has created the trackback waiting for moderation did not just contain excerpts from the post it was pointing to on my blog but also other blogs probably containing the keyword that the blogger must have specified.

Why I considered this funny is that the post was not only un-readable but the content made no meaning. Frankly, I believe even the search engines will never take a second look at that page if they ever cared to visit. And for the human visitors? It is a turn-away at first sight!

This is why I’m asking, why waste your money to buy a domain name and a webhost and then go for a piece of software that will not help you recoup your investment?  Or are these bloggers really making money with those “gibberish” content?

Autoblogging Is Not An Evil Thing!

I must say I’m not against autoblogging in anyway. I do have some automated niche blogs but they are way ahead of what I’ve seen so far with many of these autoblogging software out there. Even if you’re building these blogs for search engine optimization purposes, it will be better to build something others will be glad to read and leave a comment. The recent Google Farmer/Panda update should be enough reason to find other ways of adding value to the blogsphere instead of these amateuristic autoblogging software.

Anyone who wants to make money online with a blog must know that there is no shortcut to that end. Blogging demands more than downloading and installing the wordpress blogging platform. The goodnews however is though, you may need to roll up your sleeves and put in every effort you can muster, the end result is really great. So if you’re in this business of setting up these outlandish blogs, it’s time you learn the right thing to do. Investing your time and effort in building a blog that adds value to the life of your readers is the only shortcut to making it as a blogger!

Over To You: What do you think about these autoblogging software? Is there any good thing you can say about them? Are you sure they are making money for those bloggers? Say your mind in the comments below.

How To Make Money Online On A Shoestring Budget!

by with 20 Comments Innovation

Sometime ago I received an email from a reader asking something like this:

“I’m a newbie just starting online. I’ve been reading a lot of information about making money online but most of these seem way too advanced for me. I am really interested on making some money from marketing online but I don’t know how to go about it. Can you give me some ideas and a plan on how to do this?

P.S. Please note that I’ve no product of my own!”

When I received that email the first thought that came to my mind was, are there really some people who are still completely uncertain of how to make money online?

Now, please get me right here. You know, sometimes after years of marketing online and reading a lot of blogs that talk about making money online, we seem to have the impression that just about everything that you need to is out there and so everyone should know. But that email was a reminder for me that it is a wrong reasoning!

In replying to that email I was careful to include the needed details on how to go about setting up a system that will [amazon_link id=”0470633956″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]help a newbie make some money online[/amazon_link]. Of course, I tried to avoid too many complications as much as possible. But after that reply I had the feeling that a great lot of details have been left out considering the limitations of email. In light of that I took a decision to do something more detailed and therefore this post.

I’ve decided to make it a step by step plan and as basic and simple as possible. This is to ensure that no matter what level anyone reading it may be at, he/she will found it useful. Of course this post is for complete newbies so if you found it too basic simply ignore it and read some other post!

The plan set out on this post lays out how you can make money online on a shoestring budget. I must say when I started out online I was right in that boat with little knowledge about internet marketing and with little money to invest in most of the programs and “sure-fire cash cows” others were buying into then. But the good thing is that somehow this disadvantaged position worked to my advantage as I had to invest in the only asset I had then – time. I invested time to study whatever I can about making money online and by the time I began to make some money and invest that in expanding my online business, I was better equipped to use the programs and other systems I invested in.

Please note that what I’m laying out below is not my system. It is a system that many have found to be truly powerful and workable. Over the years I’ve adapted it to different markets with a few modifications and I’ve always found it effective. So if you’re looking for a system that will help you make money online with a minimum cost to you then read this post very carefully. I hope you find it helpful.

(Apologies: This post is unusually long unlike most of the posts you are familiar with here. This is because of the details that needed to be included so bear with me!)

So let’s begin.

Step 1: Become an Affiliate at Clickbank.Com

The simple and easiest way I have found to make money online when you do not have a product of your own is to join affiliate programs and one such very powerful affiliate program on the net is clickbank.com. A free account at clickbank.com allows you to promote every product or service listed on the site. You don’t have to create a separate account for the individual products. Just one account and you have access to all the products.

The products offered at Clickbank.com are “digital” products which can be downloaded immediately after purchase. There are no shipping costs and because of this most of the products on the Clickbank.com marketplace, are stunningly high on the commissions paid to affiliates. In most cases you could get a commission that is as high as 75%! This has made clickbank.com a favorite of affiliate marketers but unfortunately it has also pushed up the level of competition. But not minding this competition setting up a system like the one we are dealing with here will help you make the kind of money you want.

So the first thing you will need to do is signup for your free account at clickbank.com and proceed to step 2.

Step 2: Market/Keyword Research

Frankly these are two different steps but because they are closely related, I have decided to put them together. Market research is about doing some online research to decide on a market that is hot on demand at the moment. That is, people are presently spending money in this market. Some of the pointers that will help you decide if a market is hot are:

1. Are other vendors targeting this market?

2. Are marketers spending money on advertising to buyers in this market?

3. Are there people searching for information on the search engines for this market?

These and many other indicators will help you pick on a profitable market to target.

Keyword research on the other hand is about deciding on the keywords/phrases you will be targeting to get a better ranking on the search engines. For example, if you chose the relationship market, some of the keywords you may want to target are “relationship repair,” “relationship rescue,” “save my marriage,” “stop my divorce,” etc. (it may interest you to know that this is actually the market wherein I made my first commission on clickbank.com a few years ago!)

The topic of market and could take a whole post of its own and so I’ll not go into details on how to go about it but [amazon_link id=”0313306761″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]here is a powerful resource [/amazon_link] that will greatly help you. However, if you desire to explore this may want to read some post on this subject I did way back. As we are talking about making money online on a shoestring budget on this post, I will advice you use Google’s free Keyword Tool for both of this research.

Step 3: Get a Free Blog at Blogger.com

Blogger.com allows you to create as many blogs as you want, for free. Now I must say I’m passionately enthusiastic about the wordpress blogging platform but creating a wordpress blog that will allow you the type of freedom that is needed to do what we want demands you having a domain name and webhost. Of course getting these could really be cheap. But as a beginner I’ll advice that you go with Blogger.com. You can easily move the blog to wordpress blog later on when you start making money and you’re more experience about running a blog.

When creating your blog at Blogger.com make sure that you use the keywords you decided on from step 2 above both on the blog name and the domain name. Your domain name will look something like this:

www.YourDomainName.blogspot.com

For example, using our Relationship market and one of the keyword phrase above, your domain will look something like:

www.relationship-rescue-tips.blogspot.com

Step 4: Take a Trip Back To Clickbank.com/Marketplace

Indeed you may have done this while doing your market and keyword research but if not, then you need to do it now and choose a product or products to promote. I usually choose about 3 products in each market. Of course you will discover that for each market/niche there are various products to choose from. Once you’re on the site simply pick a category and a sub-category and you will be taken to a page full of listings of products to promote. Select each of these products and visit the product site and take a good look at the sales page. Using commonsense and your own judgment ask the following question before deciding on a product:

1. If I’m having this problem will I go for this product?

2. Does this sales page address the emotional buttons associated with this market?

3. Are there enough social proof? Does the sales page have testimonials of people who have benefited from the product?

4. Is the sales page professionally done?

Of course there are other “technical” indicators like the product price, the commission percentage, and the gravity (i.e. how many affiliates earned a commission on that product in the past one or two week pay period) that are shown on the listings in clickbank.com/marketplace. But using these indicators could be a little advance for the beginner. I actually believe that using the above commonsense questions you can make a good choice of a product to sell on clickbank.com.

Once you’ve decided on the products you want to promote, click on the link that says “Create Hoplink” located underneath the product to get your affiliate link. This is what you will need to include in your blog articles to make a commission on the product.

Step 5: Review the Product(s) On Your Blog

Armed with your affiliate links and some information from the product site, your next move is to write a product review. Note that you’re not writing a sales pitch, the sales page for the product you’re promoting will take care of that. Most of these sales pages are written by professional sales copywriters. All you need to do is guide people there.

Please note that this part of the system is very important because if your review is able to put the prospect in the right frame of mind before visiting the product sales page, you have a higher certainty of them purchasing the product. So if you cannot write a product review, do not hesitate to outsource it to someone. A freelance writer may not charge too much for a product review for a Clickbank product. You can expect to pay anywhere from $10 – $20 for a custom-written product review, depending on the writer and the word count of the review.

If you have taken note you will discover that until this point you have spent $0, so if you will spend $10 – $20 for the product review you will not be doing badly!

Important: Remember to add your affiliate link to your product review at least in the first paragraph and at the bottom. Whatever the length of the review, at the end, you can give a strong “Call to action” so that the reader will be compelled to click on your affiliate link.

Bonus Tip: One secret that have helped me very well in writing very powerful review copies is by signing up for the affiliate programs of the product I want to promote, if there is one. When you visit the product sales page, take a look at the bottom of the page to see if there is an affiliate link. Vendors who offer this type of affiliate programs usually offer promotional materials that can help you writing your review copy!

Step 6: Drive Traffic to Your Review Blog

Once your blog is set up your next move is to drive ‘targeted’ traffic to it. These are the people who are actually interested in the product that you are reviewing. And the way to drive targeted traffic to your review blog is to write articles and submit them to article directories like Ezinearticles.com and GoArticles.com. These are some of the top article directories out there. (Not minding the recent google panda update that affected Ezinearticles.com negetively, they are still way up the ladder!) If you write articles in the niches that you are promoting, and you give away some good information with a link to your review blog in your resource box at the end of each article, you will be able to drive targeted traffic to your blog. And if your review blog is able to convincingly send this traffic to the product sales page these could easily convert into sales, which means you will earn yourself some affiliate commissions!

A few other things you will need to do to drive more quality, targeted traffic to your blog include (but not limited to) backlink building, social networking, pinging your blog etc. A more recent one you may want to try is write guest post and publish them on blogs targeting your niche market. You must know that the more targeted leads you drive to your review blog, the more sales you will make. It’s really simple, but it does take work and time.

Conclusion: This is indeed a simple but effective method of making money online even if you have no product and you’re starting on a shoestring budget. Creating a review blog on blogger.com to market affiliate products costs nothing to do but can earn you a potentially unlimited income. Depending on how much traffic you drive to your blog and the conversion rates, you can build yourself a flourishing online business using this exact model.

Over to you: Do you have a few suggestions you will want to add to this game plan? Do you think this is basic enough for any newbie to implement and make some money online? I will be glad if you can add your voice to this plan in the comments below.

How Not To Start A Business Online!

by with 27 Comments Uncategorized

It is authoritative. You can make money online without investing a dime! This has been proved over and over again. But the truth is what you make that way can hardly pay the bills!

Now if you’re blogging for cash, if you expect to make money with your blogs, you must not fall into the mistake of making promises based on the fact of making money online without spending money.

Over the years I’ve seen many promising online entrepreneurs fall into this trap. And it is common with bloggers.

Personally I’ve walked that path. When I started online I had barely enough to invest in most of the programs and tools for sale. I was forced therefore to seek the free way. I soon discovered that there were good and effective tools and resources you can pick up for free. I had to turn to these. But frankly that made moving forward a real laborious journey. I had to do a lot of things myself since the money was not there to invest on even the simplest items.

Now I must confess that in a way it was a plus for me as I was able to learn a lot of things. I learnt to code html from scratch, set up my own websites, install scripts, do my own banners, etc. I used free services like 250free.com, awardspace.com, 50megs.com and others to host my websites. I used free autoresponder services like sendfree.com freeautobot.com and others. With these services I was able to build a sizable list that I was promoting affiliate products to. But like everything free on the net, there were limitations to these services.

Decision To Help Others

After some time having learnt most of these things I felt I should also help other aspiring newbies online entrepreneurs with their dreams by providing them with resources and tools that will help them make money online. I used my knowledge and experience as the launching pad. And as expected my promise was, “I will help you build and market your business online, why pay the high fees and expend your bank account when you can get everything free!”

Now that was a big promise that everyone who wants some free info will take and on its own there was no problem. The truth is I’ve over the years used many free services that can truly help my target audience do the same. But I did not take into consideration a few things. One is the fact that I’m into business and needs to make a gain with my investment. Creating content, doing research to provide my web readers with the very best tools and resources, took my precious time and in most cases energy. But I’ve promised to give these away for free!

It was the experience I had during this time and other examples that I’ve come across on the net that led me to come to the conclusion that this is a wrong way of building a business online.

Reacting Negatively To Net Guru Lies!

Before I make the attempt to point out some of the reasons why you should not build your business on this promise of providing your target audience everything free, I want to state that many of those who fall into this error are those who think the online gurus are crooks. To them what these self acclaimed gurus are peddling as products on which they make millions can really be picked up for free all over the net.

Of course that is the truth. As I have mentioned above I took the path of free when I started out. I did many things for free but the truth is that it also took me a long time to make any appreciable progress. And if you’ll agree, time is money! So even when you are not paying a dime for what you are doing you are in one way or the other paying a price!

Now I’m not a fan of these gurus in any way. I’m against most of their dubious attempts to fleece innocent newbies off their hard earned money. But the truth still stands that as content publishers (infopreneurs if you so desire) receiving a reward for your hard work is not out of place.

Laying A Wrong Foundation For Your Business

Now I’ve come across many blogs where the owner promises to provide their audience everything free. Many web surfers truly love such blogs. A common feature you will see in such places is that the blogger first in no good terms give the gurus some tongue lashing (or do you say, mouse lashing) for their greed!

But frankly, any time I come across such blogs I know by instinct that such a blogger is not making any thing substantial. Most times those promising such deals use free services just as I did when I started out. So for them charging for something that you can get free is not good. That is good reasoning indeed. But if your intension is to make money online then that route is the wrong one.

Here are some reasons why that is a wrong foundation for your online business

1. You’re In Business And Not Some Charity Work!

The first reason is the fact that as a business your first priority is survival in the market place. And to survive you need to create a profit and if you must create a profit you need customers. That is the only way to sustain a business whether online or offline. If your promise is to provide your readers with only free information and tools that will help them profit online how do you make the profit if your readers don’t spend money. Don’t deceive yourself, if you do not give them something to buy they will go out there and buy some where else!

Ok, some bloggers will argue that you could monetize your blog with selling ads to other businesses. But is doing that keeping to your promise of providing everything free? Are those advertisers not selling some product or service which they want your readers to buy? So if they go on and buy such a product or service did not part of that go to you as payment for selling the ad space?

2. The Moral Question

Point #1 above brings us to this very important point. I’ve found that many of those who give promises of providing free information to their readers turn around from time to time promoting affiliate programs. Ok it is understandable that you may not be using the same tactics the gurus are using. But ask yourself; are you morally right to do that when your promise from the beginning is to provide everything free?

I must say this is the biggest question why I’ve decided that it is wrong to start a business with that promise. I made that mistake a few times in the past and discovered I couldn’t bring myself to promote anything that will make my readers spend money. My subconscious mind saw to it that in all my content I stay within my promise! I unknowingly conditioned myself to stay away from selling anything either by way referrer or out right selling!

I’m sure you can understand my plight here.

3. The Wrong Mind Conditioning

Another reason why you shouldn’t start your online business by giving the wrong promises is the fact that from the beginning you’ll be conditioning your target audience to you-can-get-everything- free mindset. But you know, there is nothing like a free lunch!

Sometime ago I came across a blog post where one of the popular content publishing sites who had given the promise of providing every content to their site users free, came out one day with a surprise. Now this site had been supporting its operations with ads on the site. However, because of their desire to provide the best for the sit users they had to employ more hands to run the operations. With this came increased operational costs and to off-set these costs they came up on this particular day with an offer that asked their visitors and members to purchase a particular product.

And how did they do it? Expecting that every of their visitors will understand their plight and help out they created an ad that showed up and asked everyone to take up their product before accessing the site!

This drew no small out cry from majority of the site users. Their reason? Of course the fact that they have promised to provide all content free and never put a price tag on it!

Can you understand what I’m driving at here? Don’t condition your site or blog visitors to expect every thing for free. Promising every thing free after bashing the ‘gurus’ is good but if you later on promote products or services that demands payment, they will see you as nothing but a cheat. They will even class you with the gurus you have tried to push down in your sweet talk!

Building Trust Is Much Better Online Than Trying To Play The Better Guy!

So if giving such promises is the wrong way what then is the right way? I must say the better way is to be straight forward from the beginning. Instead of promising everything free, promise rather to help them save money and time by keeping their investment low. This is not much different from in principle but the simple change in wording puts them in the right to see their expenditure as an investment.

You should help them understand that building a business online definitely should not cost them an arm. But they still need to know that they must be ready to invest in that business by purchasing at least the basic thing like webhosting and domain names. Besides, if that business needs to grow there is the need also to reinvest the little they’re making. This is what businesses all over the world do.

Besides, letting them know that you will also be receiving a commission when they buy using your affiliate links will help put them in the right frame of mind. If you’re truly giving them value for their time and resources then helping you also to make a small commission will not be out of place. It will only be an obligation! It is a matter of a good turn deserves another!

So are you giving the wrong promises trying to build your business online? Or do you have a contrary view to this? Share your thoughts with us in the comments.